The Eagle Grove City Council met this past Monday via conference call and approved a budget amendment for the current fiscal year. It includes the following amounts and line items: $50,000 from General to CDBG; $175,000 from LOST to DD#15 project; $27,281 from Sewer to Sewer CDBG; $1,000 from Water to Water CDBG; $625,000 from Sewer Sinking Fund to Reserve (with a notation it could be much lower); $126,755 from LOST to SW Ninth Bridge project. The total transfers are rounded off to $1.1 million.
A hearing was held on a nuisance abatement appeal for the property at 204 Northwest Second. The process for this started back in March, and right before the COVID-19 pandemic, which interfered with the follow-up. Lisa Kist also said the portable garage needs a permit. “Some of the stuff was cleaned up, and I signed off on it, but they keep bringing more in and just move stuff around,” she said. According to City Administrator Bryce Davis, there’s been effort made to clean it up but he doesn’t have enough information to make a decision.
“The Council has the leeway to determine a better process in bringing the list up to the current condition,” said City Attorney Brett Legvold. Mayor Sandy McGrath said that the most recent issue in question appears to be the portable storage. The Council approved a vote to discontinue the current abatement and reassess the issue. In short, they will issue a new notice and start the process over.
Another hearing was held on a dangerous animal citation on a dog owned by Nicole Niccoletti, who requested the hearing to appeal the decision. The incident occurred on April 27, and the responding officer was Mark Hennigar. She contends that the report filed by him may be inaccurate in its description of how the situation occurred. “My dog was seriously injured and needed to seek immediate medical attention, therefore our statement (at the time) as to what took place was not fully discussed or understood. At the time of the hearing, I would like to present evidence that my dog Lucas is not a dangerous animal,” stated Nicoletti in a letter sent to Davis.
“The officer report said that the dog acted in an aggressive manner, and the ordinance states it has to be inside a fence and under control,” said McGrath. In the end the Council decided to leave the matter as is, so it is still considered an open case by the police department. The Council also set a public hearing for the June 8 meeting to consider proposed plans, specs, form of contract and estimated cost for the Downtown Revitalization Project. It includes 12 various buildings, with the ISG Group of Mankato, Minnesota as the project engineer.
